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| Industry | Freight transport |
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| Founded | 1907 in Buffalo, New York |
| Headquarters | 500 Essjay Road Williamsville, New York 14221 |
| Parent | RAND Logistics Inc. |
| Website | http://www.americansteamship.com, https://www.randlog.com |
The American Steamship Company (ASC) is an American transportation company that operates a fleet of self-unloading vessels in the Great Lakes. [1] The company is currently owned by Rand Logistics Inc. [2] [3] [4]
The American Steamship Company was founded in 1907 in Buffalo, New York by partners John J. Boland and Adam E. Cornelius. Their first ship, the SS Yale was the first steel vessel owned by a Buffalo firm and earned large profits for the partners. Over the next five years, the company added six new vessels to their fleet.
At the end of World War I, the American Steamship Company became the first Great Lakes steamship company to outfit all of its vessels with radio telegraph equipment.
ASC acquired the Mitchell Steamship Company in 1922, thus adding another four vessels to its growing fleet.
ASC was hard hit by the Great Depression, but took advantage of the downturn to convert three of its bulk freighters to self-unloading vessels, which would prove to be the way of the future in Great Lakes shipping. In the 1940s, self-unloaders would bring new business to ASC, and the focus of the company would shift from transporting iron ore and grain to shipping coal and limestone. During World War II, ASC was active in the war effort, at one point having twenty ships engaged in war trades around the world.
The company embarked on a major expansion in the 1950s, though the company continued to be run by Boland and Cornelius and their sons. By 1965, ASC's annual volume exceeded 20 million tons, and in 1967 the firm acquired the Oswego Shipping Company. The company again launched an expansion effort and used funds provided under the Merchant Marine Act of 1970 to retire older tonnage and begin construction of a new fully modernized fleet of ten vessels. In 1973, the Boland and Cornelius families sold ASC to the General American Transportation Corporation (GATX), which oversaw completion of the newbuild program.
In the late 1970s and early 1980s, ASC became one of the first shipping companies to introduce onboard computers on all of its vessels.
From 2002 to 2006, the company partnered with Oglebay Norton Marine Services to create a combined "Alliance Fleet" of 18 US-Flagged vessels operating on the Great Lakes, making it the largest American domestic provider of dry bulk self-unloader transportation services on the Great Lakes. In 2006 following the completion of bankruptcy proceedings surrounding Oglebay Norton and its holdings, ASC divested several smaller vessels from the former Oglebay fleet while acquiring two additional 1,000 foot vessels and one smaller "River Class" vessel from the former company, which then formed the basis of the subsequent 11-vessel fleet for the next decade.
On February 7, 2020, GATX announced on their corporate website that an agreement for the sale of American Steamship Company had been reached and was pending regulatory approval before proceeding. On May 17, 2020 it was announced that the buyer was American Industrial Partners (AIP), a hedge fund group that had purchased RAND Logistics Inc and their subsidiary fleets of Grand River Navigation and Lower Lakes Towing as they emerged from bankruptcy proceedings.
In early 2021, Rand Logistics Inc. chartered out the operations of ASC's five smaller "River Class" Vessels to Grand River Navigation as a cost-cutting measure, while retaining the six 1,000 foot vessels [5] under ASC operational ownership. As of January 2023, ASC continues to operate its six 1,000 foot vessels as part of the combined Rand Logistics Group.
Canada Steamship Lines (CSL) is a shipping company with headquarters in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The business has been operating for well over a century and a half.
A shipping line or shipping company is a company whose line of business is ownership and operation of ships.
American Maritime Officers (AMO) is a national labor union affiliated with the Seafarers International Union of North America. With an active membership of approximately 4,000, AMO represents licensed mariners working in the United States Merchant Marine aboard U.S.-flagged merchant and military sealift vessels. AMO holds a unique presence in the international energy transportation trades.
John J. Boland (1875–1956) was one of the co-founders of the American Steamship Company and Boland and Cornelius Company.
Adam E. Cornelius (1882–1953) was one of the co-founders of the American Steamship Company and Boland and Cornelius Company.
MV Calumet is Great Lakes bulk freighter currently in operation.
The Oglebay Norton Corporation was an ore mining company and operated ships on the Great Lakes. At one point their flagship was the SS Edmund Fitzgerald through their Columbia Transportation Division.
The Robert S. Pierson is a bulk carrier built for and operated on the North American Great Lakes.
The lake freighter MV Saginaw was launched as John J. Boland in 1953, the third vessel to bear that name. John J. Boland was owned and operated by the American Steamship Company and constructed by Manitowoc Shipbuilding Company at Manitowoc, Wisconsin. In 1999, the ship was sold to Lower Lakes Towing and renamed Saginaw. The ship is currently in service.
The Adam E. Cornelius, launched by the American Steamship Company, was named after one of the firm's two founding directors. The vessel was launched in 1908.
MV American Century is a very large diesel-powered Lake freighter owned and operated by the American Steamship Company. This vessel was built in 1981 at Bay Shipbuilding Company, Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, and included self-unloading technology.
MV American Courage is a diesel-powered lake freighter owned and operated by Grand River Navigation. This vessel was built in 1979 at Bay Shipbuilding Company, Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin and included self-unloading technology.
MV John J. Boland is a diesel-powered lake freighter owned and operated by the Buffalo-based American Steamship Company (ASC), a subsidiary of Rand Logistics. This vessel was built in 1973 at Bay Shipbuilding Company, Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin. Initially named Charles E. Wilson, the vessel was renamed to its current name in 2000.
MV American Mariner is a diesel-powered lake freighter owned and operated by the American Steamship Company (ASC). This vessel was built in 1980 at Bay Shipbuilding Company, Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin and included self-unloading technology.
The Interlake Steamship Company is an American freight ship company that operates a fleet on the Great Lakes in North America. It is now part of Interlake Maritime Services.
The SS William G. Mather was a 533-foot (162 m) long Great Lakes freighter that was built in 1905, by the Great Lakes Engineering Works (GLEW) of Ecorse, Michigan, for the Grand Island Steamship Company. Her keel was laid on May 18, 1905. She was launched on September 23, 1905, as hull #9. The ship was named after William G. Mather, the Cleveland-Cliffs executive. She was powered by a 2,000-horsepower (1,500 kW) triple expansion steam engine which was attached to a single fixed-pitch propeller. She was fueled by two coal-fired Scotch marine boilers.
The Frank C. Ball was an American Bulk carrier that was built by the Great Lakes Engineering Works of Ecorse, Michigan, for the Globe Steamship Company of Duluth, Minnesota. She was launched on December 9, 1905, as hull #14. She was powered by a 1,700 horsepower triple expansion steam engine and fueled by two coal-fired Scotch marine boilers. Even though Ball was built in 1905, she only entered service in 1906.
James L. Kuber is a self-unloading articulated barge owned by Rand Logistics and operated by Grand River Navigation. The vessel was originally named Reserve and was constructed as a bulk carrier, being launched in 1952. It was converted to a barge in 2007.
Boland and Cornelius Company was a shipping company founded in 1904 by Messrs Boland and Adam E. Cornelius in Buffalo, New York. Adam Edwards Cornelius came up with the idea of having self-unloading ships to save time and money. Adam Edwards Cornelius self-unloading ships changed the way ships were unloading. In 1907 Boland and Cornelius founded the American Steamship Company a subsidiary of Boland and Cornelius Company. American Steamship Company later became the current GATX Corporation. Boland and Cornelius Company flew a white and red flag with B&C in blue.
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